A consent judgment filed in federal court in Little Rock requires a physician who operated the Sei Bella Med Spa on Lile Drive to pay $20,000 to resolve a Drug Enforcement Administration accountability audit that resulted in indictments of her and her nurse a year ago.
On Oct. 7, 2015, a federal grand jury indicted Dr. Anne Rowland Trussell and her licensed practical nurse, Qusandra Joyce Siler, also known as Sandi Siler, on charges of conspiring to distribute and dispense a controlled substance -- Adipex, also known as phentermine -- without an effective prescription. The drug is a Schedule IV drug.
The indictment alleged that while operating the spa, which offered weight-loss services, Botox injections and other medical services through Suite 940 at 9501 Lile Drive, Trussell signed her name on more than 75 blank prescription pads so that, in her absence, Siler could issue prescriptions to patients.
Under Arkansas law, a licensed practical nurse may not assess, diagnose or plan care for patients and doesn't have the authority to issue prescriptions.
On Aug. 19, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner filed motions to dismiss the charges against Trussell and Siler, noting that the government had reached an "alternative resolution" of the case.
In a document filed Tuesday consenting to the entry of a judgment against her, Trussell agreed that during the execution of a federal search warrant on March 4, 2015, DEA agents prompted by an accountability audit found six violations of the Controlled Substances Act at the clinic.
The consent judgment, approved Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, requires Trussell to pay $20,000 -- in five annual $4,000 installments -- to the government to resolve the violations.
It identified the violations as failing to maintain proper dispensing records, failing to maintain a biennial inventory of controlled substances, failing to maintain controlled substances records for two years, failing to maintain controlled substances records in a readily retrievable manner, failing to maintain receipts for controlled substance samples, and failing to maintain complete and accurate records.
Metro on 10/09/2016